Andrew Tate, the former kickboxer and social media influencer who gained notoriety over the years for peddling misogynistic views, was charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, by Romanian prosecutors on Tuesday 20 June.
Tate and his brother Tristan have just won their appeal against being placed under house arrest as they await trial, along side two Romanian women over the alleged abuses they stand accused of committing against seven women, accusations that all four defendants have continued to deny.
The trial will not start immediately because, under Romanian law, the case gets sent to the court’s preliminary chamber, where a judge has 60 days to inspect the case files to ensure legality.
The four were held in police custody from 29 December until 31 March before a Bucharest court put them under house arrest. They have now been released but will require official permission before leaving the municipality.
Here’s everything you need to know about the controversial figure.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Emory Andrew Tate is a social media influencer and former kickboxer.
Tate was born in the US but came to live in Britain when he was four years old.
He is also the founder of Hustler’s University, an online “academy” where members pay a monthly membership fee in exchange for advice on how to make a passive income from several online industries.
Andrew Tate— (PA)
How popular is he and does he have a girlfriend?
Prior to being banned, Tate had a huge Instagram following of 4.6 million.
His popularity soared after videos of him began circulating on TikTok.
Tate has been rumoured to be in a relationship with Naghel Georgiana Manuela. He shared a photograph of himself and Naghel aboard a private plane on his Instagram in October 2021.
“Flying in my Jet with the only woman I trust. Magic powers,” he captioned the post.
Tate first joined Twitter in 2011, but was banned in 2017 for violating its terms of service with tweets he wrote about violence against women. His account was reinstated in November 2022, after Twitter’s policy changed under Elon Musk, who promotes “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach”.
“Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted and demonetised, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet,” Mr Musk said.
Tate is banned from several popular social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok but was reinstated on Twitter after Mr Musk took over the platform.
Is Andrew Tate rich?
Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Bucharest— (Reuters)
Tate has previously claimed that he is the world’s first trillionaire. This is completely unproven.
He has different “business ventures” like Hustler’s University, an online “academy” where members paid a monthly membership fee.
It was an online school that apparently helped people make money through 18 wealth creation methods and reportedly had around 100,000 paying subscribers who were charged around $49 per month until it was shut down last summer.
Tate also sells digital products and access to “private communities” on his website.
In an interview with The Mirror in March 2022, Tate and his brother Tristan revealed they run an adult webcam business, which employs lingerie-clad models to have chat sessions with men.
During the chats, which are charged at $4 (£3.30) an hour, the models tell male callers about “fake sob stories”.
The brothers admitted that the operation was a “total scam”, but they are protected by two lines in their terms and conditions.
Tristan said: “One is broadcasting is ‘for entertainment purposes only’. That means if a model says she has a sick dog or a sick grandma it doesn’t have to be true. The next is that all cash given to models is ‘a voluntary sign of gratitude for their time broadcasting’.”
Andrew Tate has appeared frequently on the Piers Morgan Uncensored— (Piers Morgan Uncensored)
What are the controversies surrounding him?
In 2016, Tate was booted from the 17th season of Big Brother after just six days, after a video surfaced showing Tate hitting a woman with a belt. In a statement, Tate and the woman in the video both said the actions in the video were consensual.
Tate has been the subject of much criticism since then, primarily for his views on women, which have been denounced as misogynistic.
In one video in which he is seen discussing feminism, Tate said women should “shut the f*** up, have kids, sit at home, be quiet and make coffee”.
Some of his most viral videos see him expressing opinions such as “women can’t drive”, that men can cheat but women cannot and that 18-year-old women are “more attractive than 25-year-olds because they’ve been through less d***”.
On 29 December 2022, Tate hit out at climate campaigner Greta Thunberg in a tweet, asking her to offer her comments on the carbon emissions of his cars.
“I have 33 cars,” he claimed, before listing the specifications for his fleet of Bugatti and Ferraris.
“This is just the start,” Tate, 36, continued. “Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”
Tate’s attempt to bait Thunberg into a conversation about the environmental impact of his many vehicles resulted in the climate campaigner responding publicly on 29 December.
In the reply, Thunberg replied with a brutal response: “Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalld***energy@getalife.com.”
Tate later responded: “How dare you?!”
Andrew Tate and Greta Thunberg’s Twitter conversation went viral in December— (Andrew Tate/Twitter)
That same day, reports emerged that Tate had been detained in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organised crime group, prosecutors said. The siblings have been under criminal investigation since April, it was reported.
Prosecutors said they had found seven women who claimed to have been sexually exploited by the suspects.
Authorities allegedly used Tate’s social media post in which he ridiculed a Romanian pizza chain, Jerry’s Pizza, to confirm he was in the country.
It is speculated that the arrest may not have happened if he had not posted a comeback video to mock Thunberg on Twitter.
On 30 December, Thunberg responded to the news that their online spat had aided in Tate’s arrest.
The climate activist wrote on Twitter: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”
Which social media platforms have banned him and why?
TikTok has confirmed it has permanently banned an account belonging to Tate as part of an ongoing investigation to remove content that violates its policies.
“Misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated on TikTok. We’ve been removing violative videos and accounts for weeks, and we welcome the news that other platforms are also taking action against this individual,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
However, most viral videos of Tate on the platform are shared by fan pages and other users.
TikTok said it is using technology to remove duplicated clips of Tate’s content from the platform altogether and is reviewing new content as it is shared.
Tate has also been removed from Facebook and Instagram. A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to The Independent that Tate had been banned from both platforms for violating its policies, citing the company’s guidelines on “Dangerous Individuals and Organisations”.
What have people said about him?
The extent of Tate’s influence became evident in August 2022 when radio presenter and TV personality Abbie Chatfield revealed that she has been receiving abusive direct messages from Tate’s fans.
Greta Thunberg and Andrew Tate— (Getty)
In an appearance on the Australian talk show The Project, Chatfield said she had first-hand experience of how Tate’s views are influencing young boys.
“I’m getting DMs [direct messages] from what appears to be early teen boys, saying ‘I hope Andrew Tate destroys you’.
“I also get comments calling me Abby Tate, comments on TikTok especially. That’s where it’s really rife.”
In a statement to The Independent in response to Chatfield’s comments, Tate said: “Everyone is entitled to an opinion and open discourse is very important for society to find the truth.
“I receive 10,000 hateful messages a day from her fans also. She has caused me more hate than I’ve ever caused her.
“Truthfully I wish nobody received any hateful messages at all and we could discuss issues openly without fear. I wish her the best in all aspects of her life!”
What have women’s groups said about him?
In November 2022, White Ribbon, a charity that works to end male violence against women, raised the alarm that Tate’s videos could have a concerning effect on young boys and men. The organisation also called on TikTok to remove content about Tate from its platform.
Dangerous cultures and environments for women and girls to exist in— White Ribbon
“Men and boys regularly watching and listening to negative presentations of masculinity may begin to adopt these attitudes and behaviours, believing that they are acting as the ‘ideal man’,” the charity told MailOnline.
“This relates to being seen as tough, aggressive and suppressing emotion. These traits feed into gender norms, what ‘being a man’ and ‘being a woman’ is. Gender inequality is a direct result of traditional and negative stereotypes which confine women’s and men’s roles in society.”
They continued: “Not only does this create a lot of pressure on men and boys, often affecting their mental health and self-image, it also creates dangerous cultures and environments for women and girls to exist in.
“Sexist and derogatory comments exist on the same spectrum as controlling behaviour and physical and sexual violence, which creates environments where men go on to murder women.”
In a statement to The Independent in response to White Ribbon’s statement, Tate claimed that he makes “many videos praising women”.
